Dag, Houg, Lyra, and Winter had a run in with some cops on horseback so they decide to continue to travel deeper into the woods. Suddenly, the bushes rustle and darts fly by in their direction. Have they stumbled upon someone’s home? Tune in to find out!

I'm really happy to hear Sarah trying to steer the group into a direction. The semi-aimless wandering is nice enough, I suppose, but when you do that there tend to be little or no real stakes, which then tends to lead to characters opting for violence over other options (there is only the short term to consider, really). And you also get the strained situation that Sarah describes, where her character has no real reason to stay around these people, but she stays anway Because Of The Game.

All of this has also made me think that Sarah might actually make a pretty spiffy DM, if she ever chooses to be one.

It should feel like sloppy DMing, but I kind of love how Blaine avoids coming up with pesky NPC dialogue with his unintelligible grumbles.

In other news, when Sarah said "cop horses" in the recap, I suddenly pictured black and white horses with light racks on their heads, and suddenly the suspicion on the part of the second set of cops made all the sense.

edit: after some thought i take back my stupid frustrations from before

It would be great if Sara bought into the violence a little more, but with lines like "you guys can't make diarrea jokes for like 10 minutes and then directly segue into bagging on Dumb and Dumber for making diarrea jokes" makes it all worth it. They wouldn't have even played D&D period this episode if she hadn't pushed everything along.

These are still fine to listen to, but ultimately, Sark is a next level DM who put a lot of thought into everything he did. Comparing anybody to Sark doesn't really seem fair and I think the biggest problem is that he spoiled everyone. Blaine would be fine as a DM if you were sitting around with friends - definetely above average - but Sark made Nerd Poker feel like a show. I think we're just going to have to deal with it until Sark comes back, which hopefully is in a couple of months.

I don't feel it's fair to compare Blaine to Sark, and not because one is better than the other - Sark's way of doing things is just one style of DMing.

What I really like about Blaine is that he genuinely asks his players what they want to do, and reacts to their decisions. I have noticed Sark at times presenting options to the group, which is a nice way to move things along, but is also a stealthy way of railroading them. An example is the idea of the poisoning of the dog - the group didn't come up with that idea, it was presented to them by an NPC. (The group wasn't even involved in making the poison - gathering the ingredients and making the stuff was all handled "offscreen" by NPCs, if I remember correctly.)

The only negative thing about giving your group free reign, is that if all options are open, it becomes nigh impossible to make a real choice. And that is why having a common goal (which could take the form of a quest, or job, but doesn't have to) helps - it focuses the group's attention, without actually limiting their range of decisions.

Not to nitpick about rules but as an Illusionist, Houg shouldn't be able to cast Evocation/Invocation, Abjuration or Necromancy spells. Unfortunately, that includes Magic Missile (Evocation). Without magic missile, Houg might become even more reliant on illusions and misdirection insetead of damage, which might make some sense given his 1 hit point and desire to run away and hide. It might make for fun roleplaying too. I think a rainbow Color Spray spell would make him absolutely FABULOUS and keep with the Doug Henning theme.

If anyone from the Cast or Earwolf bothers to read these threads - I pray they just read the last 2 sentences of most posts. Thats typically where the person who has just cited all the reasons Nerd Poker should change, finally just says that they love the podcast anyway.

Not to nitpick about rules but as an Illusionist, Houg shouldn't be able to cast Evocation/Invocation, Abjuration or Necromancy spells. Unfortunately, that includes Magic Missile (Evocation). Without magic missile, Houg might become even more reliant on illusions and misdirection insetead of damage, which might make some sense given his 1 hit point and desire to run away and hide. It might make for fun roleplaying too. I think a rainbow Color Spray spell would make him absolutely FABULOUS and keep with the Doug Henning theme.
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Don't forget. Chromatic Orb!!! That's where an. Illusionist shines.
Can you imagine when ( If ) poor Houg makes it high enough. Level to cast Phantasmal Killer???
I'm looking forward to Ken describing the nightmare that the target sees.

Don't forget. Chromatic Orb!!! That's where an. Illusionist shines.
Can you imagine when ( If ) poor Houg makes it high enough. Level to cast Phantasmal Killer???
I'm looking forward to Ken describing the nightmare that the target sees.

Absolutely. Illusions are a great part of role playing. So much more imagination and possibility for fun compared to "I cast magic missile and fry the kobold for 3 points of damage." But that's just me.

Incidentally, here's a picture of the actual Doug Henning casting color spray from his anus. He's a pro.

Not to nitpick about rules but as an Illusionist, Houg shouldn't be able to cast Evocation/Invocation, Abjuration or Necromancy spells. Unfortunately, that includes Magic Missile (Evocation). Without magic missile, Houg might become even more reliant on illusions and misdirection insetead of damage, which might make some sense given his 1 hit point and desire to run away and hide. It might make for fun roleplaying too. I think a rainbow Color Spray spell would make him absolutely FABULOUS and keep with the Doug Henning theme.

That said, do whatever you like. It's all good.

If we're nitpicking on the rules, then Hug's illusory wall from a couple of episodes ago should have been at least a third level spell, and I'm pretty sure it was mentioned earlier that Winter has only one hit point, which he took during the fight with the goblins.

BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT.

It's good to see that the Plot Roc has descended on the party at last.

I believe that Winter has 3 hp to start and was knocked down to "Houg Level" after some smacking around.

My only real plea is to implore Blaine to keep an eye on XP and give the crew a chance to level at earliest opportunity. I love low level PCs but mages are cripplingly frail, Houg is full on "bubble boy" and Jerry has doubled down by bringing a spare mage. When they reach 5-7 then the proverbial shit will get real, but at level 1 it is going to tax Blaine's capacity to come up with reasons why Houg is not being repeatedly turned into marmalade smears.

Yeah after the crazy stat rolling; what was it 4d6 drop lowest AND roll 8 stats & keep best 6? Something like that. I can't believe he didnt allow to reroll a 1hp.
Though to his credit, Ken is rping a 1hp wizard awesomely.